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*****Our new film 'Green: at what price?' investigates the battle between Ugandan villagers & a Norwegian timber company. *****The Deforestation of the Amazon (A Time Lapse)
.@Obrekum Taking Deforestation out of Commodity Supply Chains @theGEF #Soy #Beef #PalmOil all major drives. Easter eggs rated by palm oil use. Lindt, Thorntons and Guylian have come bottom of a green ranking of Easter eggs based on their use of palm oil.

Divine Chocolate came top, with the Co-operative and Sainsbury's close behind in the survey of more than 70 brands by Ethical Consumer magazine and charity Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK). The organisations are launching a campaign in response to the increasing threat that unsustainable palm oil is posing to the world's rainforests, their indigenous wildlife, and the people whose livelihoods depend on the forests. Having destroyed vast areas of forest in countries such as Indonesia, palm oil companies are now planning to expand in the rainforests of the Congo Basin in Africa.

Consumers are unaware of palm oil content, the campaign says, because of current labelling laws. Palm oil is a key ingredient in many food products – including chocolate and biscuits – but companies are not required by EU law to label products containing it until December 2014.
*****REDD: Indigenous peoples in Colombia play crucial role in the fight against climate change. Dams be damned, let the world's rivers flow again. Fifty years ago, environmentalists and dam builders in the United States were locked in a bitter battle.

Dam building had swept the nation in the 1940s and 1950s, blocking and impounding some of the most important rivers of the American west. On the Snake river (where controversies about dams continue to this day), dam construction had led to a massive fish kill and decimated salmon and steelhead runs. Frank Church, a senator from the state of Idaho, originally supported the dams.
Hydropower dams worldwide cause continued species extinction.

New research led by the University of Stirling has found a global pattern of sustained species extinctions on islands within hydroelectric reservoirs.

Scientists have discovered that reservoir islands created by large dams across the world do not maintain the same levels of animal and plant life found prior to flooding. Despite being hailed as conservation sanctuaries that protect species from hunting and deforestation, islands undergo sustained loss of species year on year after dam construction, a pattern otherwise known as 'extinction debt'. These findings represent a significant environmental impact that is currently missing from assessment procedures for proposed new dams.
The file-eared tree frog has remarkable camouflage. (Photo by Robin Moore.)
Yr 10 created Facebook posts to explain why certain stakeholders are causing deforestation in the rainforest□□ #ukedchat #geographyteacher. The excavation of a cave, in Pará, unearthed a snake weighing 900 pounds and measuring 30 feet in length.

We are destroying rainforests so quickly they may be gone in 100 years. If you want to see the world’s climate changing, fly over a tropical country.

Thirty years ago, a wide belt of rainforest circled the earth, covering much of Latin America, south-east Asia and Africa.
Global consumption an increasingly significant driver of tropical deforestation. Last frontiers of wilderness Tracking loss of intact forest landscapes from 2000 to 2013 #deforestation. Global Forest Watch interactive map. ***Forest Loss Animated Map. Illegal deforestation for 'sustainable' chocolate continues in Peru. So you should be! This is a brilliant short film on Sabah, drawing attention to a disaster through some stunning images. @NatGeoEducation. Hydropower dams worldwide cause continued species extinction. See what @CameronCRussell learned when she visited @RnfrstAlliance Certified farms in Sri Lanka in our new video.

Their high-arched branches and luminous green canopies form – as historian Jill Jones puts it – “a beautiful cathedral of shade”. When she started researching her new book, Urban Forests, she’d have struggled to identify the species – but now, she says, “when I see one, I say ‘Oh my goodness, this is a rare survivor,’ and deeply appreciate the fact that it’s there.” The American elm was once America’s most beloved and abundant city tree. It liked urban soil, and its branches spread out a safe distance above traffic, to provide the dappled shade that cities depended on before air conditioning.

Sneak peek of our new video, We Are the #RainforestAlliance, coming soon.
Illegal gold mining spreads to protected Peruvian reserve. Deforestation by agriculture: Modern art captured by a #satellite—a highway separates the forested Iguazú National Park from farmland in #Brazil.
The Queens Commonwealth Canopy - A network of forest conservation initiatives throughout the 53 nations of the Commonwealth. How deforestation happens: Logging Roads - Map.

Queensland incl Daintree, NW Australia

If the palm oil industry waited for consumers to care, sustainability would get nowhere. Palm oil is the most-used vegetable oil in the world, accounting for some 65% of all vegetable oil traded, and is found in everything from washing powder to breakfast cereals.

Global production has doubled over the past decade and is set to double again by 2020. But oil palm trees only grow in tropical areas, and vast monocrops are rapidly destroying virgin rainforests and peatland. Ecosystem collapse, air pollution and species extinction have followed. Global action to reverse these trends has been led by the certification scheme, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Greenpeace rates consumer goods giants' no-deforestation progress. Most consumer goods giants with commitments to eliminate deforestation from their palm oil supply chains are “moving far too slowly,” according to a new Greenpeace scorecard that rates their progress.

The NGO surveyed 14 global companies and assessed them based on three criteria: responsible sourcing, transparency and industry reform. Nestle and Ferrero scored the highest, while Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson and PepsiCo fared the worst.
#WestPapua As far as the eye can see, an area that was once #rainforest has been destroyed #deforestation #palmoil. Forest-burning is a sin, says Indonesian fatwa. Image copyright AFP Indonesia's highest Islamic authority has said it is a sin for people to deliberately burn forests to clear the land for growing crops.

Illegal slash-and-burn farming has devastated large areas of Indonesia and causes air pollution which affects countries around the region. Indonesia has repeatedly been accused of not doing enough to stop it. Government officials said they hoped the moral impact of the fatwa would help reinforce laws against it.